Finally, this team has been galvanized by the tragedy surrounding their head coach. They play hard every play, spending themselves on behalf of their mentor.

I always expected the Colts to rebuild quickly. Any rebuilding project that takes more than two years in the NFL is one that wasn't well executed. This was never going to be a slow process.

It's now clear, however, that the Colts' "reloaded" at a fortuitous time in the life cycle of the AFC. There are enough "down" teams that the Colts didn't have to improve dramatically to find themselves in games, and ultimately, the playoff hunt.